Frederick Langdon "Fred" Davis (August 6, 1868 – 1951) was a lawyer and political figure in Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada. He represented Neepawa

Neepawa (electoral district)

Neepawa was a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1949.This riding was created in 1914 from parts of Dauphin and Portage La Prairie ridings....

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 as a Unionist

Unionist Party (Canada)

The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by Members of Parliament in Canada who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War....

 member.

He was born in Belleville, Ontario

Belleville, Ontario

Belleville is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...

, the son of James A. Davis and Sarah Way. Davis came to Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

 in 1881 and studied at the University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

. He articled in law with Frank Stayner Nugent and then William Egerton Perdue, entered practice in 1893 and was called to the Manitoba bar in 1900. He set up practice in Neepawa

Neepawa, Manitoba

Neepawa is a town in Manitoba, Canada located on the Yellowhead Highway at the intersection with Highway 5. its population was 3,298. Neepawa was incorporated as a town in 1883. It is located in the Rural Municipality of Langford and bordered to the north by the Rural Municipality of Rosedale....

. Davis was president of the local board of trade and served on the school board. In 1895, he married Elizabeth Ellen Webster. In 1936, he was named King's Counsel.

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Davis spoke out in favour of better treatment of "enemy alien

Enemy alien

In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.-United Kingdom:...

s", persons residing in Canada who held citizenship in countries at war with Canada:

If we treat such men as men and brothers, we will make Canadians of them; if we treat them in any other fashion, we will make of them an alien element in Canada.

"Enemy aliens" were interred in labour camps across the country during the war under the authority of the War Measures Act

War Measures Act

The War Measures Act was a Canadian statute that allowed the government to assume sweeping emergency powers in the event of "war, invasion or insurrection, real or apprehended"...

 of 1914. The same legislation would later be invoked during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the October Crisis

October Crisis

The October Crisis was a series of events triggered by two kidnappings of government officials by members of the Front de libération du Québec during October 1970 in the province of Quebec, mainly in the Montreal metropolitan area.The circumstances ultimately culminated in the only peacetime use...

of 1970.